Research Projects

 

 

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  • 2024-2026  US Dept of Treasury - LA Center of Excellence - Studentship: Quantifying River Level, Precipitation and Wind Driven Tides on Marsh Shallow Ground Water Levels and Porewater Salinity. PI Dr. Matt Hiatt, LSU  Starts Fall 2024
  • 2024-2027 - LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – Coastal Science Assistantship Program. The Relative Contribution of Plant uptake vs Denitrification of Nitrate in Water Quality Improvement from Sediment River Diversion Operations. PI. J.R. White  MS student: Jey DeWaters starting Fall 2024.
  • 2023 – 2024 –  NOAA – National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, Effects of Sea Level Rise Event Response Program.  The Impact of a Historic Drought on Coastal Wetland Porewater Properties.  PI. J.R. White, Co-Pi. Matt Hiatt.  
  • 2023 – 2024 – National Science Foundation – Collaborative Research: RAPID Determining the Impacts of a Combined Historical Watershed and Regional Drought on Coastal Louisiana Wetland Ecohydrology.  LSU PI  John R. White  Co-Pi Matt Hiatt.  with PI Elliott White - Stanford University 
  • 2023-2025 - US Army Corp of Engineers. Evaluating Restored Wetland Biogeochemical Cycling Following Thin-layer Sediment Introduction. P.I. John R. White  USACE partner: Jacob Berkowitz. MS Student: Jacob Cheng, MS student to be named.
  • 2023 – 2025 – South Central - Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) – A fresh set of tools: New information for managing fisheries during changes in river discharge. PI  P. Miller, Co PIs; S. Midway, M. Dance, J.R. White. M. Baustian.
  • 2023-2025 – U.S. Geological Survey. Linking Watershed Phosphorus Discharge and Legacy Sediment  to Climate Variability and Occurrence of Harmful Algal Blooms. P.I. John R. White  Co.PI. Sibel Bargu: USGS Partner  Gregg Snedden, Ph.D. Student: Lee Potter
  • 2023 – 2024 – LA Sea Grant – Impact of Historic Drought on Salt-Brackish Marsh Soil Salinity and pH.  P.I. John R. White Co-PI Matt Hiatt. Project Development Funds.
  • ----------------- PROJECTS COMPLETED -----------------
  • 2021-2024 – LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – Coastal Science Assistantship Program. How will Sediment Diversions affect wetland soil salinity and microbial processes supporting plant growth and water quality improvement?  MS. Students: Robert Feder/Jacob Cheng. P.I. John R. White  
  • 2022-2023 - LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority - System Wide Assessment and Monitoring Plan (SWAMP) Soil and Biomass Analysis.  P.I. John R. White
  • 2021-2023 - The Water Institute of the Gulf - Restore Act Center of Excellence.  Dynamics of N and P cycling across Barataria Basin.  M.S. Student Assistantship - MS. Student: Mercedes Pinzon. P.I. J.R. White  MS student Mercedes Pinzon
  • 2020-2023 – LA Seagrant . P.I. John R. White, Co PI Sibel. Bargu. Effects of the Bonnet Carré Spillway opening on resulting estuarine water quality and phytoplankton bloom dynamics.
  • 2020-2022 – National Science Foundation – RAPID: Waiting to Exhale: Quantifying Tropical Storm-Induced Increased Flux of Coastal Wetland Carbon into the Atmosphere P.I. John R. White, Co PI, George Xue  Ph.D. student: Yadav Sapkota
  • 2020-2021 – LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – Coastal Science Assistantship Program. Trajectory of wetland ecosystem services in a created marsh, student assistantship MS students Erol Knaus. P.I. John R. White
  • 2018-2021 – LSU Office of Research – Economic Development Assistantship for Yadav Sapkota – Development of a Scientifically-Sound Basis for Increasing Economic Value Of Carbon Credits in Coastal Restoration PI. J.R. White
  • 2016-2021 National Science Foundation-Collaborative Research: Fate of Coastal Wetland Carbon Under Increasing Sea Level Rise: Using the Subsiding Louisiana Coast as a Proxy for Future World-Wide Sea Level Projections P.I. J.R. White, Co PI R.L. Cook, G. Xue. in collaboration with Dr. Lisa Chambers PI. at University of Central Florida.
  • 2018-2020 – LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – Coastal Science Assistantship Program. Phosphorus dynamics in a Sediment Diversion Marsh, student assistantship to Peter Mates. P.I. J.R. White
  • 2017-2020 – Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Development of a Monitoring Program for Water Quality and Biogeochemical Processes of Louisiana Sediment Borrow Areas. P.I. K. Xu, Co PI J.R. White, S. Bargu, S. Bentley, K. Maiti and Z. Xue.
  • 2019-2020 – LA Seagrant Impacts of the Longest Bonnet Carre Spillway Opening in History on Estuarine Water Quality and Phytoplankton Dynamicss. P.I. J.R. White, Co PI S. Bargu.
  • 2017-2019 – RESTORE Center of Excellence – Determining the Influence of Surface Water Diversions on Physical and Nutrient Characteristics of Wetland Soil. Student assistantship for Alina Spera. PI J.R. White.
  • 2016-2018 NOAA (through Texas A&M Corpus Christi) Quantifying and Characterizing the Mississippi River’s Contribution of Microplastic Debris to the Gulf of Mexico. P.I. J.L. Conkle, Co Pi. J.R. White, L.G. Chambers, E. Hasenmueller.
  • 2017-2019 – Department of Energy – Comparative Analysis of Microbially-mediated Mercury Cycling in Two DoE Contaminated Ecosystems. PI A. Chauhan Co-PI S. Brooks, L. Magwood, Jr., X. Xu, V. Ibeanusi, C. Jagoe, R. Katam, A. Pathak, R. Jaswal. J.R.White.
  • 2016-2017 – US Army Corp of Engineers – Determining the Effects of Thin Layer Dredge Material Placement on Soil Physical and Microbial Parameters.P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2016-2019 – The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana – Conservation and Restoration of Atchafalaya River Forested Wetlands: Determination of Microbial Driven Biogeochemical Ecosystem Services. P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2014-2017 – LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority/LA SeaGrant: Coastal Sciences Assistantship Program. Impact of Buried Crude Oil on Soil Microbial Processes in Coastal Wetlands of Barataria Bay. P.I.: J.R. White.
  • 2015-2017 – LA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and The Water Institute of the Gulf. Reducing Uncertainty on Nutrient Removal for Sediment Diversions. P.I. J.R. White, Co-Pi K. Xu.
  • 2014-2017 – Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Delineating Areas of Enhanced Sediment Accumulation in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. P.I. K. Maiti, Co-Pis J.R. White, R.D. DeLaune.
  • 2016 -2017 Louisiana Sea Grant – Impacts of the Bonnet Carre Flood Pulse on the nutrient and plankton dynamics of the Lake Pontchartrain Estuary. P.I. J.R. White, Co-PI S. Bargu.
  • 2013-2016 – LA Office of Coastal Protection & Restoration. Delta Development and Coastal Marsh Accretion during Cold Front Passage and Floods: Relevance to River Diversions. P.I. H. Roberts, Co-P.I.s R.D. DeLaune, C. Sasser, J.R. White, C.Y. Li.
  • 2012-2016 – LSU Block grant from British Petroleum – Integrated Laboratory & Field Studies on Effects of Oil on Key Wetland Soil/Sediment Microbial Biogeochemical Processes. P.I. R.D. DeLaune, Co-P.I. J.R. White, K.R. Reddy, A.V. Ogram, and J.J. Wang.
  • 2014 – Louisiana SeaGrant. Effect of Long-Term Nutrient Loading on Wetland Soil Microbial Processes in Louisiana Coastal Marshes. P.I. J.R. White
  • 2012-2013 – Louisiana Water Resource Research Institute. Nutrient and Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Dynamics in Lake Pontchartrain during a Non-Spillway Opening Year. P.I. J.R. White, Co-P.I.s S. Bargu, C.Y. Li.
  • 2011-2013 – LA Office of Coastal Protection & Restoration – Mississippi River Flood Pulse Effects on Coastal Water Quality. P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2011-2013 – United States Army Corp of Engineers – Microbial Indicators of Restoration. P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2011-2013 – LA Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration – Fate and Effect of Added Nitrate-Nitrogen in Mississippi River Water on Marsh Stability. P.I. R.D. DeLaune, Co.P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2011-2013 – LA Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration – Spatial Analysis of the Trajectory of Caernarvon Water, Sediment, and Nutrients and Associated Biomass Response. P.I. J.R. White, Co.P.I. R.D. DeLaune.
  • 2011-2013 – National Science Foundation – RAPID: Sediment, water, and nutrient flux and fate in Lake Pontchartrain from the 2011 Bonnet Carre Spillway opening. P.I. S. Bentley, Co.P.I.s C.Y. Li, J.R. White, S. Bargu, N.N. Walker.
  • 2011-2012 – LA Sea Grant – Effects of Freshwater Input on Nutrient Loading, Phytoplankton Community Composition, Biomass and Cyanotoxin Production in Lake Pontchartrain from the 2011 Bonnet Carre Spillway Opening. P.I. S. Bargu, Co.P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2009-2011 – LUMCON-CREST – Effect of Diverted Mississippi River Nitrate on Marsh Soil Resilience – P.I. J.R. White, Co.P.I. R.D. DeLaune.
  • 2007-2011 – LA Dept. of Natural Resources – Continuation of Spatial Influence of Mississippi River Diversion at Davis Pond and Caernarvon. P.I. R.D. Delaune, Co-P.I. J.R. White.
  • 2007-2010 – Shell Oil – Shell DELTA Observation Systems-wetland platforms – P.I. J.R. White, Co-P.I.s J. Cable, I. Mendelssohn.
  • 2006-2010 – NOAA – Northern Gulf Institute – Investigating Material Exchange Between the Marsh and Channel Along an Estuarine Gradient – P.I. J.Cable, Co-P.I.s J.R.White, I. Mendelssohn, R. Twilley.
  • 2008-2009 – National Science Foundation – Mississippi River Flood of 2008: Flood-Pulsed Experiments of Coastal Ecosystem Dynamics – P.I. J.R. White, Co.P.I.s C.Li, S, Green, W. Fulweiler, S. Bargu.
  • 2005-2009 – LA Board of Regents – Research Competitive Subprogram – Effect of Large Scale Surface Water Diversions on Wetland Biogeochemical Cycling and Water Quality – P.I. J.R.White, Co-P.I. R.D. Delaune.